Book Description

Revenge, blackmail, family feuds, revolution… and lots of white rabbits!

Published June 2014, 'Church of the White Rabbits' is the new novel from award-winning British indie author Huw Thomas.

Inspired by the likes of 'Cold Comfort Farm' and the TV series such as 'Northern Exposure' and 'Two Thousand Acres of Sky', the new book marks a departure in style. No murders or mysteries, but lots of eccentric characters and quirky adventures.

'Church of the White Rabbits':

A saga of family feuds and power struggles on an island populated by eccentrics, misfits… and an ever-growing number of white rabbits.

Far out in the Atlantic lies Black Island, a remote and windswept outpost of the British Isles. Once the haunt of pirates, life here follows a different pace.

For more than two centuries, the Black Family has ruled the island as their personal fiefdom. But, although they still control most aspects of island life, the family line is in danger of dying out.

With no heir to be found, the island’s affairs are now in the grasping hands of family steward Clarence Wherry, whose financial incompetence is matched only by his arrogance.

Mad old Keziah Black has her own ideas on how to deal with Clarence — and for taking revenge for an ancient injustice. Keziah - now in her 70s and generally regarded as a deranged old witch with few social graces - is secretly manoeuvring to take over the family business. And whether by blackmail or rigging games of poker, Keziah isn’t going to let anything or anyone stand in her way.

Down in the island’s only town, impulsive ex-fisherman Arthur Judd has returned after a 15-year absence. Now, he’s trying to introduce a dash of contemporary culture to this remote community with a new café offering everything from skinny lattes to breakfast muffins.

Arthur’s world is turned upside down twice: first when he suddenly finds himself looking after a baby daughter he never knew he had and again when the lovely but elusive Lola Maguire appears on the island.

Most of the time, there’s little contact — or love — lost between the Black Family and the rest of the islanders. However, trouble breaks out after Clarence Wherry’s former assistant falls off a balcony, suffers a breakdown and runs off to live in the hills with a colony of white rabbits.

After several years, the white rabbits have been doing what rabbits do best and Clarence decides to thin their numbers. The locals take umbrage at Clarence’s high-handed behaviour and a plot is hatched to save the white rabbits.

Revenge, blackmail, family feuds, revolution… and lots of white rabbits!

Published June 2014, 'Church of the White Rabbits' is the new novel from award-winning British indie author Huw Thomas.

Inspired by the likes of 'Cold Comfort Farm' and the TV series such as 'Northern Exposure' and 'Two Thousand Acres of Sky', the new book marks a departure in style. No murders or mysteries, but lots of eccentric characters and quirky adventures.

'Church of the White Rabbits':

A saga of family feuds and power struggles on an island populated by eccentrics, misfits… and an ever-growing number of white rabbits.

Far out in the Atlantic lies Black Island, a remote and windswept outpost of the British Isles. Once the haunt of pirates, life here follows a different pace.

For more than two centuries, the Black Family has ruled the island as their personal fiefdom. But, although they still control most aspects of island life, the family line is in danger of dying out.

With no heir to be found, the island’s affairs are now in the grasping hands of family steward Clarence Wherry, whose financial incompetence is matched only by his arrogance.

Mad old Keziah Black has her own ideas on how to deal with Clarence — and for taking revenge for an ancient injustice. Keziah - now in her 70s and generally regarded as a deranged old witch with few social graces - is secretly manoeuvring to take over the family business. And whether by blackmail or rigging games of poker, Keziah isn’t going to let anything or anyone stand in her way.

Down in the island’s only town, impulsive ex-fisherman Arthur Judd has returned after a 15-year absence. Now, he’s trying to introduce a dash of contemporary culture to this remote community with a new café offering everything from skinny lattes to breakfast muffins.

Arthur’s world is turned upside down twice: first when he suddenly finds himself looking after a baby daughter he never knew he had and again when the lovely but elusive Lola Maguire appears on the island.

Most of the time, there’s little contact — or love — lost between the Black Family and the rest of the islanders. However, trouble breaks out after Clarence Wherry’s former assistant falls off a balcony, suffers a breakdown and runs off to live in the hills with a colony of white rabbits.

After several years, the white rabbits have been doing what rabbits do best and Clarence decides to thin their numbers. The locals take umbrage at Clarence’s high-handed behaviour and a plot is hatched to save the white rabbits.

If you are a Huw Thomas fan as I am, you'll find this book a bit of a surprise. It's a departure from his usual gritty mystery fare, but if possible, I think it's his best work to date. From the characters you'll come to love (and hate) to the politics of this crazy little isolated island, it is just about as pitch perfect as a story can get.

Just about.

If I have one complaint, it's the same I've made on other books by newer English authors, Thomas included--the grammatically improper and, worse - passive - construction of using "was" or "is" before a verb such as "sat". When good grammar would better serve a sentence ("she sits at the table"), he chooses the irritating "she is sat". I hope this affectation dies a horrible death, and soon. In an otherwise excellent book, it was the fly in the ointment that ALWAYS took me out of the story.

What a fun and quirky book, full of eccentric characters enjoying their plots and family sub-plots. The setting itself is almost another character, very easy to imagine from the author's descriptions. Great light-hearted read. I'll be curious to see what else Huw Thomas has written and would welcome more stories; this one really was hard to put down and I was sad when it ended.

I don't normally care for books that are divided into sections - each of them dealing with a separate part of the story - I'm not patient enough to wait for the sectors to join. This book was an exception - I found it engrossing and enchanting

More About the Author

Writer, traveller, cyclist and gardener: I've always been a dreamer - I wrote my first 'book' while at primary school and making up stories has long been one of my favourite occupations.

I was born in Southampton, England, in 1965 and grew up in a small market town called Romsey.

Over the years that followed I worked as a journalist, PR consultant, gardener and, most recently, teaching English in Portugal.

My latest novel - Pagan's Sphinx - came out on 1st December 2012. This one's published under the pen name William Webster as it's a bit different from my other books. 'Pagan's Sphinx' is an adventure story about an archaeological expedition hunting for a lost statue that may provide a link to the lost civilisation of Atlantis.

My first novel - The Tale Of Findo Gask - was published in 2006 after winning the national final of a UK competition to discover new authors. I've also written several other books and published a collection of short stories.

'The Vault' is published in aid of the disaster relief charity ShelterBox http://www.shelterbox.org (I've been involved with this charity for a few years - I was previously in charge of PR & Fundraising at its UK HQ and in 2010-11 my wife and I undertook a 10,000-mile tandem bike ride in aid of ShelterBox!)

Please visit my blog - at http://hdthomas.wordpress.com - for more information about me and my books, as well as some of my thoughts on being a writer and the creative process. You can also find me on Facebook - look for 'Huw Thomas author'.